The Return Of Jacquies Smith?
September 1st, 2017
On 53-man roster?
A bit of news that Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht dropped on TV last night.
Appearing in the WFLA-TV Channel 8 broadcast booth with play-by-play man Chris Myers and analyst Ronde Barber in the fourth quarter of the final preseason game, Licht, of course, was asked about the sorry state of the Bucs’ pass rush.
Licht, who likes to rave about every player on the roster, suddenly changed his tone to guarded when discussing the pass rush. It was as if he’s as disgusted as the next Bucs fan (only Licht hasn’t been living this hellish annual ritual for the past 10 friggin’ years).
Licht’s voice perked up when he invoked defensive end Jacquies Smith, who blew out his knee in the season opener last year in Atlanta and hasn’t been able to fully practice since.
Licht suggested folks should not be surprised if Smith’s name is on the final 53-man roster before the Bucs play Miami Sept. 10.
“He’s going to be ready to go early in the season,” Licht told Barber. “There is an opportunity that he could be on that 53-man roster next week.”
The pass rush is so benign it seems that the team might be desperate enough to hope an oft-injured player coming off major knee surgery can suddenly shake off the rust in 10 days to get after bratty Jay Cutler in South Florida?
That’s the Bucs pass rush world we live in.
September 1st, 2017 at 5:10 am
“Ready to go early in the season”? As in Week 1? Week 4? Week 7? Jack Smith won’t be the answer to our DE woes for awhile, if at all this season. We’d all better hope that our DTs & LBs can put consistent pressure on opposing QBs, because our DE group hasn’t shown much in that area thus far. Also best hope that Brent Grimes & VHIII stay healthy all season long.
September 1st, 2017 at 5:53 am
We are in a sad position at DE. There is a need to obtain plug-in players, we have the cap space for short term low risk players but haven’t made a move. It hurt seein 2 2015 1st round offensive tackles traded for 5th found draft picks. Demar Dodson is fragile and if we move Pamphine to RT and Evan Smith to guard we are in getting smaller and in same position as we were in last year. DE and RT are very important and yet we have not addressed it. U Ub
September 1st, 2017 at 6:23 am
Best ability is availability. I keep forgetting he even exists. I would rather keep the Canadian they picked up last week that had a TFL on one of his first plays rather than save a roster spot for Smith.
September 1st, 2017 at 6:23 am
Defense
Dont count your chickens yet. Cmon back Jack. Go Bucs
September 1st, 2017 at 6:38 am
What difference does it make? He is just going to get hurt.
September 1st, 2017 at 6:57 am
We’ve seen no hint of a pass rush or much run defense but in vanilla scheme less preseason game don’t you think it’s too early to exaggerate the situation this much especially when a lot of those players won’t even make this team
Offense isn’t all that impressive either
September 1st, 2017 at 7:03 am
Should have done his prehab.
September 1st, 2017 at 7:04 am
i hate how some of you couch GMs/Coaches think they know more than the guys who are actually there everyday looking at these guys. If he gets hurt he gets hurt big deal its football it happens but you cant B!tch about not having a DE and automatically don’t give Jack Smith a chance we need all the help we can get at DE period. Go Bucs
September 1st, 2017 at 7:14 am
Smith was average at best when he played, i am hoping coach smith has a blitz heavy season coming up to get pressure but then that will expose our gawd awful back end that doesnt excel in man coverage…vegas thinkin jay cutlers phins putting up 4 tds against this D… really hope that is wrong
September 1st, 2017 at 7:16 am
How can you be so down on our pass rush before we rush a single pass? We have an extremely solid D-line on paper. Let’s just imagine that everyone on our team hits their career average when healthy. Now assuming Noah Spence has 10 sacks because look at him, that leaves McCoy with 8.5, Ayers with 8, Jaquies with 6.5, Gholston with 3.5 and 5 more for McDonald, Baker and whoever else gets a crack at it. Then let’s add in 3 for Kwon, 4 for David and 3 more for our CB/Saftey group.
So if our team simply hits there career avg and stays healthy, we are looking at a league leading 51.5 sacks. It looks so good on paper! Now if Spence plays half a year on one arm or McCoy misses anytime at all, these number go way down
September 1st, 2017 at 7:24 am
dude needs to get on same diet as Beckwith, at least we got solid linebackers, lavonte david looking to break out
September 1st, 2017 at 7:29 am
Really glad we addressed the pass rush and RB situation in the draft. Two glaring needs coming off of last season. SMH
September 1st, 2017 at 7:39 am
Harry right on.. djax, oj, and K only thing licht got right I hope, passing on 5 legit NFL starters at RB from round 2 on is not one of them, no pass rush average back end, just dont see bucs stopping the qbs in our division
September 1st, 2017 at 7:57 am
Sorry, Jac is good for a game, then back to I.R.
September 1st, 2017 at 8:35 am
Not to worry. We have the BEST run-stopping DE in the game, Gholston, and the “beastly” Robert Ayers on our edges. (crickets chirping!)
September 1st, 2017 at 8:47 am
I hate to use the B word already, but Noah Spence is looking like a bust.
September 1st, 2017 at 8:50 am
We sure need a healthy, competent backup QB. What we have now STINKS to high heaven. Plus, the uniforms look likeegarbage. Can they be fixed?
September 1st, 2017 at 9:03 am
lololol your crazy calling Noah a bust do you even watch the kid?
Ohhhh yea I forgot, it’s preseason and the annual sky is falling crowd is in full bloom.
September 1st, 2017 at 9:06 am
I really wanted us to draft either Demarcus Walker from Florida State or Jordan Willis from K State in the 2nd round but we went for the Safety.
September 1st, 2017 at 9:34 am
Looking at the talent on this roster I just do not see how we avoid a lot of 3-4 defense. The players we have simply line up better in a 3-4.
We have a light potential star at DE who cannot bull rush big LT’s…he’s much better served outside than inside. We have some beef at last and could produce a couple of NT’s…we have a really strong group of LB’s and LVD is a proven rusher.
September 1st, 2017 at 9:40 am
Can’t wait until the season starts and the games mean something. We looked bad this preseason on both sides of the ball, no depth on this team except linebacker. Our pass rush looked better last preseason with JS and his 4 sacks that I think he got. Somehow, I think it is going to be a long season unless the offense averages 30 points a game (and I don’t see that happening). It is going to take some time for our defense to gel and we may STILL have NO pass rush. Why has it been SO long since we have had a DE get 10+ sacks? If we can’t get one in the draft we need to get one through FA. I wonder who the best DE was in the 2015 draft and if we could have traded the No.1 pick and still landed him. I know MOST of you are glad we took Winston but I would like to see where we would be with the extra draft picks. Somehow, I don’t think we would have such little depth on the team as we do now. I sure hope Jameis gets better and cuts down on the mistakes or we may NEVER get back to the Playoffs. This team will ONLY go as far as he can take them. Go BUCS!
September 1st, 2017 at 9:55 am
Stand by folks! The sky is not falling. Rome is not burning. I’m not condoning the fact that our D line held back this preseason, however the central theme has been to keep our guys HEALTHY. I assure you all you will see our pass rush against Miami. What we have done here is actually very smart…
1). Get into the regular season HEALTHY
2). Lower expectations which were running sky high
3). Play your cards close to your vest.
All will be revealed once the score matters.
GO BUCS!!!
September 1st, 2017 at 4:03 pm
Jacquies Smith coming back would be nice, when fully healthy he shows up in a lot of games, in particular if they’re on turf where he seems to play faster. Having Smith in there and blitzing with David would create some havoc.
But Smith has to be healthy to do anything, so we shall see. With as much as DE’s get paid if he can be productive for like 2 or 3 games he’s a great value. But ideally he can do a lot more than that.